A problem that has been persistent in engines is that during high power operations, particularly during excursions, the typical engine mounts adapted to carry the thrust loads produce a moment around the point of attachment to the engine, which impart an uneven load on the engine cases such as the fan case, turbine case and the like. Since the shaft and bearings do not necessarily see this deflection, this load has been known to cause severe rubbing of the blades in a fan-jet engine, and can be intolerable particularly during engine ground test in an engine test rig.
We have found that we can obviate this problem by uniting the fan inner and outer ducts if they are not already in that condition and tie the nacelle cowling attached to the fan case to the engine rear mounting rail in such a manner as to produce a couple around the point where the thrust load is producing the moment. The tie down mechanism is mounted so that it is in tension and reacts to the load and hence shares the load to effectively cancel it out and relieve the stresses on the engine cases. It is contemplated by virtue of this invention that the engine can be ground tested with its flight nozzle in place which was not the case heretofore. The load sharing mechanism of this invention can be easily adapted to accommodate changes due to wear and varying tolerances. In accordance with this invention the load sharing mechanism does not interfere with the opening and closing of the conventional clam-shell doors of the nacelle and requires no wrenches or the like for the attachment.